Judy Garlow, longtime legal services advocate, dies

A leader on countless legal services boards and commissions, Ms. Garlow joined
the IOLTA (Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts) program in its nascent stage
and became its director in 1993. She later was instrumental in the passage
of legislation that created California’s
Equal Access Fund in 1999.

Ms. Garlow also served as president of the National Association of IOLTA programs
and was a member of the American Bar Association’s IOLTA Commission.

IOLTA programs were created after federal funding for legal services was cut
in the 1980s. They pool interest on client money held by lawyers for short
periods that is distributed among programs that offer free or low-cost legal
help to low-income people.

State Bar Executive Director Judy Johnson called Ms. Garlow “a pioneer
in legal services access” and credited her with helping “galvanize
support in the legal community for the successful defense of IOLTA funding
when it was challenged in the courts.”